| 203 | 204 | 205 | 206 | 207 |
| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
|
withdrawing into some secret place, fall down upon her knees and
pray that he might be restored.
But, the bitterness of her grief was not in beholding him in this
condition, when he was at least content and tranquil, nor in her
solitary meditations on his altered state, though these were trials for a
young heart. Cause for deeper and heavier sorrow was yet to come.
One evening, a holiday night with them, Nell and her grandfather went
out to walk. They had been rather closely confined for some days, and
the weather being warm, they strolled a long distance. Clear of the
town, they took a footpath which struck through some pleasant fields,
judging that it would terminate in the road they quitted and enable
them to return that way. It made, however, a much wider circuit than
they had supposed, and thus they were tempted onward until sunset,
when they reached the track of which they were in search, and
stopped to rest.
It had been gradually getting overcast, and now the sky was dark and
lowering, save where the glory of the departing sun piled up masses of
gold and burning fire, decaying embers of which gleamed here and
there through the black veil, and shone redly down upon the earth.
The wind began to moan in hollow murmurs, as the sun went down
carrying glad day elsewhere; and a train of dull clouds coming up
against it, menaced thunder and lightning. Large drops of rain soon
began to fall, and, as the storm clouds came sailing onward, others
supplied the void they left behind and spread over all the sky. Then
was heard the low rumbling of distant thunder, then the lightning
quivered, and then the darkness of an hour seemed to have gathered
in an instant.
Fearful of taking shelter beneath a tree or hedge, the old man and the
child hurried along the high road, hoping to find some house in which
they could seek a refuge from the storm, which had now burst forth in
earnest, and every moment increased in violence. Drenched with the
pelting rain, confused by the deafening thunder, and bewildered by
the glare of the forked lightning, they would have passed a solitary
house without being aware of its vicinity, had not a man, who was
standing at the door, called lustily to them to enter.
'
Your ears ought to be better than other folks' at any rate, if you make
so little of the chance of being struck blind,' he said, retreating from
the door and shading his eyes with his hands as the jagged lightning
came again. 'What were you going past for, eh?' he added, as he closed
the door and led the way along a passage to a room behind.
'
We didn't see the house, sir, till we heard you calling,' Nell replied.
Page
Quick Jump
|